How we see Atonement

I took a class called Ollywood. In this class, we learned about movies, how they're made, what their purpose is and how they impact people we also learned about cinematography and how to do it. I found this class VERY interesting because it really made movies an entirely different thing for me because I stopped looking at them as simple things put together by people in a computer room and started looking at the whole process. In this class, we have taken a bunch of field experiences to many different places. The main one that stood out to me was the trip to the Gene Siskel Film Center where we watched a documentary called The Area. What really touched me about this FE was how much time and effort people put into the craft of making movies because we got to talk to the director of the documentary and it was really inspiring to actually get to talk to someone who had created a documentary. The other thing was Gene Sickel Film Center was a place that I would say many people don't know about and the fact that it exists for a rather niche group of people is crazy because its in an expensive location which means someone had to make the decision to invest in this and must know that there is enough support out there, support of which I didn't know previously existed. For this action project, we had to create a review of a movie and below is mine. I hope you enjoy.

 

Nail Climbing (yes it is safe)

I took a STEAM elective named Game Changers. In this class, we talked about how games work, their mechanics, and how they can teach. I found the class very interesting because it gave me a look into a world I never knew existed. I met people who have dedicated their entire lives to games in various ways and that's something that I never would have imagined seeing. In this class, we went on many Field Experiences to different places but we also had many in house experiences.  One of these experiences that really touched me was when we talked to JR Honeycutt about his life as a game creator; this inspired me to think differently because he was so devoted to something he loved that it gave me the realization of what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it. That I did, and so did my team partners AA and RP. Together we created an exciting game that involves cards, a board, and creating fantastic memories with friends. So I hope you enjoy learning about it and maybe you'll even consider playing. 

We have taken the initiative to create an incredible game that puts you into the shoes of a rock climber with a few added difficulties. In the game, you are playing on a vertical board. Along the way you can hit patches of rocks that are impossible to cross without going around, you can collect gems that can help or hinder, and you can make strategic decisions to be the first to the top! The objective is to be the first to the top of the board and claim your victory. 

This game is perfect for people who love a challenge or a game that combines luck with decision making. This game can also attract fans from the sport of rock climbing or fans from strategic games that already exist such as Settlers of Catan. We have designed this game to create an environment that helps grow your patience, long-term decision making, and sportsmanship so you'll never be a sore loser. 

This game was incredibly fun to create but it all had to start somewhere. When we first started brainstorming, we had so many ideas that it was hard to choose just one! Our first idea was a race car game that would be on a flat board but, of course, this eventually evolved into a vertical board that focused on rock climbing rather than race cars. I think the major reason we did this was so that we could have a more visually appealing game that could stand out from the rest of the competition. Creating the game was very tedious because we had to literally nail almost 500 nails into a board not once but twice since we switched to a different board after the first one turned out to be too flimsy and dangerous. Along with nailing in about 1000 nails, we also had to tweak the final board numerous times before we determined that there weren't enough straight paths to the top that it made the game unfair. Playtesting the game went horribly the first time because the card game had no connection to the board and so there wasn't really a way to play. This wasn't a surprise since we were barely into the design process and already knew it wasn't functional yet. The second time we playtested, and after receiving pages of feedback that referred to the exact same problem every time, we changed the cards to clear cards that gave you a certain amount of moves to make so that it had a connection to the board and people were actually able to play. After making corrections to the actual correspondence between the cards and the board we, also discovered that if a player ended up with numerous cards that instructed them to move upwards they had a straight shot to the top and made the game pass too quickly. This is why there are several "rock" formations along the route that are impossible to pass through. 

I am proud to say that I came up with the original idea for what the game would look like and how it would perform. This is not to say I was the only one working but only to say while the entire group contributed to the idea coming to mind. I can say that I brought it up and had us pursue it. I also am very proud of the actual video that we made and all the time it took to edit it into a concise video that got to the point. I also intentionally made the video that shows how much fun we had playing the game so that you would feel more inclined to play while also learning about the game. This was an ordeal that I would estimate took me about 6 hours to finally accomplish because I had many technical problems that inhibited my work and forced me to restart the editing process multiple times. In the end, I think the video turned out great and that is something I am very proud of.  I think the final thing that really wrapped up my contributions to this project is how I really tried to bring the entire team together and I truly believe that I have never worked on a team in school that performed better together than us. At the beginning of the project, one of our group members was hesitant to join our group for unrelated matters, but we were finally able to convince him to join. This was not in vain; I wanted him to join because I knew that with the three people involved, we could make an incredible project. Even though I had to overcome obstacles trying to get us all to work in harmony, it worked out beautifully. I made sure to divvy up work based on skills, workload from other classes, and simple desire to accomplish to the task. I think this resulted in an entire team being extremely excited about the final outcome and a team that is truly proud of the work that was accomplished.